Data-centric activity where students explore the connections between an observable change in the cryosphere and its potential impact in the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Students analyze the melt extents on the Greenland ice sheet from 1992-2003. Students also learn about how scientists collect the data.

Activity takes three to five 45-minute class periods. Computer access is required.

About the Science

Includes websites for background and a list of books and articles for students and educators.

Activity is very closely tied to current scientific activities, with abundant links and references to primary sites and data.

Comment from scientist: Greenland is presented out of context. No other regions with glacier change or sources of sea level rise are mentioned. This piece should be added by educator.

Comment from scientist: No distinction is made here between the observation of melt at the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet and what actually happens to that melt. Much of the activity is devoted to the study of changing surface melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet, but the potential significance of that melt isn’t made very clear. The reader is more or less invited to suppose that the dramatic changes observed in the extent of surface melt translate onto either dramatically increased rates of mass loss from the ice sheet, or dramatically altered controls on basal lubrication. These aren’t necessarily true – a poorly constrained, but potentially very large, fraction of surface melt refreezes locally without influencing either mass loss or basal hydrology. This is one of the great unknowns in Greenland surface mass balance.

About the Pedagogy

This is an inquiry-based activity.

The educator needs to realize that it is a very involved activity with a large learning curve in the use of the software. Educators will need to be careful that students don't lose sight of the science while getting deep into the details of the tools.

This is well-suited to educators who are willing to make the investment of time and money in acquiring, installing and learning the software.

The material and activity structure is very rich and may be worth exploring even if the full GIS activity isn't practical. See teaching tips for additional ideas.

Next Generation Science Standards
See how this
Activity supports:

High School

Performance Expectations: 1

HS-ESS3-5: Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 3

HS-ESS2.D1:The foundation for Earth’s global climate systems is the electromagnetic radiation from the sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space.

HS-ESS2.D4:Current models predict that, although future regional climate changes will be complex and varied, average global temperatures will continue to rise. The outcomes predicted by global climate models strongly depend on the amounts of human-generated greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year and by the ways in which these gases are absorbed by the ocean and biosphere.

HS-P4.1:Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.

HS-P5.4:Use simple limit cases to test mathematical expressions, computer programs, algorithms, or simulations of a process or system to see if a model “makes sense” by comparing the outcomes with what is known about the real world.

HS-P6.4:Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and/or models to link evidence to the claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.

HS-P7.5:Make and defend a claim based on evidence about the natural world or the effectiveness of a design solution that reflects scientific knowledge and student-generated evidence.

HS-P8.3:Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and usefulness of each source.

HS-P8.5:Communicate scientific and/or technical information or ideas (e.g. about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (i.e., orally, graphically, textually, mathematically).